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Warriors Iguodala, Bogut recognized in defensive player of year voting

By Diamond Leung dleung@bayareanewsgroup.com

Posted:
04/21/2014 09:35:34 PM PDT

Updated:
04/22/2014 05:44:23 AM PDT

LOS ANGELES -- The Warriors' Andre Iguodala and Andrew Bogut finished fifth and 10th, respectively, in the voting for the NBA's defensive player of the year award won by Chicago's Joakim Noah.

"I'm thrilled," Warriors coach Mark Jackson said Monday. "Congratulations to those guys. Just an incredible statement for them individually and for this organization.

"Those two guys fully deserve it and should be commended for at times carrying us and just being stellar defensively."

Iguodala, who guarded multiple positions with distinction, earned a first-place vote from USA Today's Jeff Zillgitt. Bogut led the Warriors in blocks, serving as the team's rim protector as he received his first-place vote from Warriors television analyst Jim Barnett, who also voted Iguodala second.

"I thought he should have won," Clippers coach Doc Rivers said of Jordan.

Rivers and Warriors center Jermaine O'Neal were whistled for double technical fouls after a verbal exchange.

The two are very familiar with each other, with Rivers knowing that they shared the same October birthday and musing that they were both "two stubborn fools."

O'Neal, who started his second straight game in place of the injured Bogut, played for Rivers the last time he was in a playoff series, with the Boston Celtics in 2011.

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"He's been amazing," Rivers said before the game. "He played great. I thought he was probably one of, if not the most important player in Game 1, he was close."

The Warriors committed 26 more turnovers, giving them 49 over the first two games in the series.

"Oooh, that's tragic," said Warriors forward Draymond Green, who along with Iguodala and David Lee had four turnovers apiece. "Aw, man. You can't win like that.

"We'll be fine. We'll make the necessary correction. You can't try to blame it on one guy either, because it was all of us."

Klay Thompson hit his 30th career playoff 3-pointer, surpassing Jason Richardson for the No. 2 spot in Warriors franchise history, joining Stephen Curry at the top of the list. Curry has 45 career playoff 3-pointers.

The 40-point margin of victory was a Clippers franchise playoff record, easily surpassing a 25-point win against the Phoenix Suns in Game 2 of the 2006 conference semifinals.